^^Bio class

On Monday at high school, I sat in my bio class listening to my teacher explaining the assignment we had to do in pairs for the entire week. I knew I will have to do it alone like the others before this, so I quietly sat on my seat while others began making pairs.

Putting my arms on the table, I leaned my head and closed my eyes. My mind was filled with all the secrets and the weird dream I had of Andrew. The strange feeling of seeing him disappointed with me was still there and I couldn't get rid of it. I didn't know why I was even feeling like that.

It's just a dream, Lillian.

Get rid of it.

I heard someone clearing their throat but kept my head ducked, thinking someone must have a fever or something.

Here's what I'll do.

Now I'm going to hide every time I see him to prevent any more embarrassing encounters.

First, he saw me coming out of the boys' bathroom, then drunk in a gay bar and with the test strips in the supermarket and-

The person cleared their throat again and a little louder this time. I peeked through my eyes to see someone's silhouette standing in front of me. Gradually dragging my eyes up to the person's head, I saw a redhead boy who is also in my bio class standing there with a pleasant smile on his face.

"Do you have a partner?" He asked, his voice a little husky.

"Huh?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Do you have a partner for the assignment?" He repeated, and I deliberately shook my head. His smile stretched into a grin and he sat on the empty seat next to me. "I don't either. Hope you don't mind having me as one."

I blinked my eyes and watched as he placed his books on the counter.

I'm confused.

"Ah, sorry, where are my manners?" He gave a nervous chuckle. "I'm Dexter." He extended his hand.

I cautiously grabbed his hand and he wiggled it a little. "I'm Li-"

"Lillian." He gave me a toothy grin, letting go of my hand. "I know."

He does?

"You're quite famous." He shrugged.

I am?

"Yeah... You're with the Clichés."

Me? With the Clichés?

"Why do sound so surprised?" He dropped his head with an amused smile on his face and my eyes grew big when I realized I was saying all that out loud.

"I..." I cleared my throat and sit a little straight. "I'm not with the Clichés."

"It doesn't look that way." He plopped his elbow on the table and leaned his head in his hand. "Everyone has seen you hanging around with them and your friend Chloe."

"We just know a few of them well," I answered, adjusting my glasses. "And Chloe is dating Louis."

The way this guy was staring at me made me kind of nervous.

"That's not surprising at all." He chuckled. "Chloe was interested in him since day one. She rejected a lot of guys for him." I raised my eyes at him. "No, I wasn't one of them." He chuckled and gave me a quick once over. "Blondes are not my type."

Is he... Flirting with me?

Not many guys had tried it on me, so I wasn't sure if he was playing or not.

"Are you all paired up?" The teacher asked.

"YES SIR." Everyone shouted.

"Yes, we are," Dexter murmured and smiled at me... again and my eyes went to his lips.

Dexter got a charming smile...

But not as good as Andrew's.

My eyes widened at that thought and I froze.

Why am I thinking about him?

I shook my head and concentrated on the assignment on hand. The teacher gave one frog to each pair, and we had to identify its parts and write a description of it.

"You have to first inject the frog. Then cut it open and-" all the girls in my class began gagging, but the teacher ignored them, "-write their descriptions for today. In the next class, we'll do the drawing and other work."

The girls began whining, and the boys laughed and made fun of them. I had no problem doing it because I knew all about these things before picking the course. I shrugged and extended my hand to pick up the gloves, but halted when Dexter took them.

"I'll do the cutting. You make the notes. Alright?" Dexter said, putting the gloves on. "I know this kind of thing gross girls out." He winked, and my face scrunched.

I am in this class for a reason. I want to be a doctor and if I can't handle a single frog, how will I be able to operate on real human bodies?

Still, I kept my mouth shut and let him do it. During the entire period, Dexter's pale face looked like he was about to vomit, but somehow he did it while I wrote things down.

"Times up kids." The teacher announced at the end of the class. "We'll continue with this tomorrow. Class dismissed."

Everyone packed up and scattered out of the class. I always left the class after everyone else out so there won't be any kind of interaction. When I packed my stuff, I looked up to see Dexter still relaxing in the chair.

"Done?" He asked, getting up.

Wait... Was he waiting for me?

"Yeah, I was." He chuckled and my eyes bugged out.

I said that out loud again!

Ducking my head in shame, I quickly grabbed my bag, and we walked out of the class together. We walked side by side. He didn't say a word, and I also kept my mouth shut. Some days I had my bio class before lunch and sometimes after lunch, so I turned towards the left corridor for the library and stopped when Dexter asked.

"Where are you going?" He asked with a frown on his face. "Cafeteria is this way." He pointed at the stairs.

"I know. I'm going to the library."

"At lunchtime?" He tilted his head. Now that I look closely, he is a good-looking guy and looks very familiar.

Maybe I've seen him in my bio class, that's why.

He was a few inches taller than me. His red curled locks were fanning over his radiant honey eyes, which were watching me, and that's when I realized he was waiting for my answer.

"Yes." I gave him a one-word answer, and he blinked.

"You usually sit there?"

"I do."

"Alright then." He pressed his lips and took a step on the stairs. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

I nodded and watched him walk away. There weren't a lot of redheads in West High and I remembered there was also one redhead on the soccer team too.

Maybe it's him.

The next day in the morning, I was at my locker with Chloe, taking my books out for the day. Chloe was telling me about her and Louis's plan for their next date when Dexter walked by us.

"Hi, Lillian." He grinned, walking backward. "See you in class."

"O...kay..." I waved awkwardly.

He's a weird guy.

Yesterday I met him and he's acting like we're childhood buddies.

"What was that?" Chloe narrowed his eyes at him. "How do you know him?"

"He's in my bio class," I answered, closing my locker.

"God, he's such a tool." She scoffed, and I blinked my eyes at her. "You don't know him, do you?"

"I know that he's in my class and his name is Dexter," I answered as we walked towards our class.

"He's Fiona's older brother."

"What?" I shrieked.

That's why he looked so familiar. He got a lot in common with his sister.

"Yes. He's also a senior, but he's been failing his bio course, so that's why he's in your class."

"Oh..." Now it makes sense.

"He was also on the soccer team but was kicked out because of his academic grades. The guy was supposed to graduate with all the seniors last year but he failed a few- more than a few of his classes and he's repeating a year."

"But why is he taking bio class with juniors?"

"He failed a lot of subjects in his past years, but Principal Morgan still promoted him to the next year because of his father's-" she air quoted, "-donations. But he failed too many of them every semester, and now Principal Morgan has no choice but to have him retake those courses."

That's a lot for him. I never thought that was even possible.

"I feel bad for him-"

"Don't." Chloe paused and looked at me sternly. "Stay away from him. After what his bit*h of a sister did to you, we can't take any chances with him."

"I can't," I said, and Chloe arched her brow at me. "He's my partner in bio."

"F**k." Her eyes widened. "I have a feeling he is planning something."

I hope not.

The rest of the week went dull for me. Every day I took my classes, did my bio project with Dexter, and the guy talks a lot. I kept listening to him rambling. Even though I didn't understand half of what he said, and kept nodding my head. I remained cautious with him, but he did nothing that might be off.

At lunch, I sat in the library. I used to sit in the library before too, but this time it felt different.

It felt...

Lonely.

Chloe and Louis were hanging out together since they started dating, and now the entire high school knows about them. They asked me to hang out with them, but I didn't want to be the third wheel again. Toby was busy with his schedule, and I pushed Ben and Andrew away.

Now here I was with my books again.

On Friday I had my bio class after lunch. After eating it with Chloe, we walked to the lockers and took our books out, then went separate ways for our classes. When I took a turn in the hallway, I bumped into someone and winced when I hit my nose in the guy's chest.

"Ouch!" Stepping back, I grabbed my nose.

"Oh- f**k. I'm sorry-" The guy who sounded very familiar paused.

I slowly looked up to see Andrew's blue wide eyes looking at me. As I planned before, I avoided him the whole week after that embarrassing encounter at the supermarket.

But on the last day of the week, I had to bump into him.

Without having control over my mouth, I blurted.

"I'm not pregnant!"

A loud gasp escaped my lips as my eyes widened and I clasped a hand in my mouth.

Why did I say that?!

~•~ • ~•~ • ~•~

"I'm not pregnant!"

Huh?

My face scrunched, and I stood on my spot, frozen, as I tried to process what she said.

She's not pregnant...

I already know that.

"Uh..." I trailed off and licked my lips to think of something else to say.

"I'm sorry." She panicked as her face turned red. "I-I am so sorry. I don't know why I said that. I'll leave now." She shuddered and began to walk past me, but I extended my arm to stop her.

"Wait. I'm also sorry-"

"It's alright." She murmured and went around me, but I stepped in front of her.

"I'm not sorry to bump into you," I said and internally slapped myself.

Why do I say stupid things when she's in front?

"Huh?" She tilted her head.

"I mean, I'm sorry about bumping into you, but I am trying to apologize for the..." I cleared my throat. "For that incident Fiona created."

"Um..." She averted her gaze to the floor and adjusted her glasses. "It's alright."

"No, it isn't. I swear I did not know she was even there, let alone that she was recording us. I wish I could have stopped her, but I couldn't." Shoving my hands in my pockets, I tried to explain to her. "I wanted to apologize before, but it was clear you were avoiding me, so I thought of giving you some time."

"I-I... I wasn't avoiding you." She kept her head ducked. I bit my smile and watched her ears turn red.

She's so cute.

"You don't have to lie-"

"I'm sorry!" She surprised me by looking straight into my eyes, cutting me off. "I didn't mean to lie. I don't lie, I mean... I just don't want to do anything or say stupid stuff in front of you after all the things that happened in the past... week." She trailed off when she realized she was rambling.

"If you're talking about that day at the mart, then don't worry, I get it." I grinned, but then remembered something. "What I didn't get was the way you disappeared that day."

"What day?" She blinked.

"On Sunday..." I scratched the back of my nape, knowing I shoot myself in the foot.

"You were following me." She said as a statement.

"I was... I was coincidentally jogging in the same direction as you." I tried to cover it.

"Were you?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

I don't know how and when the tables turned from her to me.

"How was your project?" I asked, getting the topic back on her. "Did the strips work?"

"It was... Good." She averted her gaze. "The strips worked just fine."

"Who did you try on?" I asked, and she began coughing.

I was about to step towards her but halted when someone else came from behind me and began patting her on the back.

"Easy girl." I blankly stared at Dexter as he calmed her down.

What the...

"I'm fine, Dexter." Lillian finally breathes.

Wait... Does she know him?

"You trying to kill her?" Dexter narrowed his eyes at me and I blinked my eyes in confusion.

From where the f**k did he even enter my story?!

"No, I'm not." I matched his glare. "And what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to take her." He said with a smirk and plopped his arm around Lillian.

"Why?" I asked, glaring at his arm around my girl.

"Because she's my partner."

"Partner?" My brows shot up and my eyes darted to Lillian.

"In bio class." She added, shrugging his arm off her shoulder.

"Let's go. We don't want to be late for our class." He gave me a lopsided smirk.

As of cue, the bell rang and everyone began going to their classes.

"See." Dexter gave us a toothy grin. "That's our call." I looked at him deadpan. "Unlike some people, we do study."

What the f**k is his problem?

"Did you forget to take your dose today? Want me to give you some?" I said, stepping towards him and his smirk expanded.

"We need to get going." Lillian gave an awkward laugh and began walking away. "I don't want to be late."

"Me neither." Dexter followed her and winked at me. My hands turned into fists and my blood boiled.

This guy is getting on my nerves now.

"Uh..." Lillian noticed my hands and smiled at me. "I'll see you around?"

My shoulders relaxed a bit, and I glanced at her. Her green eyes were cautiously darted between mine and I knew she didn't want me to get into a fight with him and wait...

Did she just say she'll see me around?

"Yes." I bobbed my head. "We'll talk again?"

"Sure. Bye." She smiled and strode to her class with Dexter.

Walking toward my class, I quickly picked up my phone out of my pocket and texted Lillian.

Me: Careful with him.

I don't know how they even became partners in their class, but Dexter wasn't the right guy for her to hang out with.

My phone pinged, and I chuckled when I saw her text.

Lillian: Aren't I always :)

~•~ • ~•~ • ~•~

"When was the first U.S. dollar printed?"

"Eighteen... Seventy-three."

"Wrong. It's Eighteen sixty-two."

"Next!"

"How many battles were fought during the American Revolution?"

"Three hundred."

"No, it's more than two-thirty."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"You didn't."

"Three hundred is more than two-thirty." I scoffed. "Your math is worse than my history." Ben groaned but continued.

We were in Ben's room studying for our upcoming mid-terms. I was lying on his bed throwing the ball in the air and catching it while he was pacing the room asking me questions.

"Who was the first president to live in the White House?"

"Oh, I know that one. Obama!"

"Wrong answer with that confidence will not make it right," Ben said, giving me a blank look.

"Whatever." I shrugged and continued playing with the ball.

"It was John Adams. Dude, you need to concentrate on this if you want to graduate with us." He lectured again. "Exams are coming next week and you still don't know more than half of the answers."

"Cut me some slack dude I'm trying." I groaned.

"Then try harder." He threw the book on my stomach and plopped on his bed.

"Opf!" I winced and sat straight, glaring at him. "What was that about?"

"You're making my headache now." He said, picking his phone up.

"You don't have to study?" I raised my brows.

"Nah." He gave me a half-shrug. "I already have a sports scholarship for college and I know I'm graduating, anyway."

"Of course, you have your mummy as the Principal to save your a**." I teased, and he rolled his eyes at me.

"At least my good for nothing mother is useful for something." He snorted and typed something on his phone.

"I met Lillian in high school today," I said, and he paused.

"How?" He asked, looking up from his phone.

"I kinda bumped into her," I answered. "And we talked a little."

"Oh..." He said, averting his gaze back to his phone. "What did you guys talk about?"

After what happened at the Singletines party, Lillian stopped talking to Ben because of me. I felt bad that I came between their friendship, even though Ben was only trying to help me.

"Nothing special, but she's in bio with Dexter. They're partners."

"What?" His eyes bugged out. "How did that even happen?"

"I heard he's repeating all the courses he failed in."

"A**hole," Ben muttered. "I don't trust these siblings."

"I don't either."

Dexter is friends with Marco who was in a gang before and also was a drug addict. Marco was sent to rehab for a year and he was also repeating his senior year with Dexter. Most of the students in West High stay away from them but still, they are quite popular among the rebellious ones.

"But we don't have to worry about Lilly. She's smart. She dodged you." Ben teased, and I groaned.

"I'm not giving up. I'm just waiting for the spring break." I said determinedly.

"You think she'll come?" He raised a question.

"She will." I grinned, but then it faltered. "But... We need to get our gang back together for that first."

"And we have a plan for that." He smirked, and I nodded.

That we have.

~•~ • ~•~ • ~•~

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